Many readers have heard the African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." On November 2nd our first-grade students went out and explored our wonderful village. Along the way they visited some familiar faces however, these faces were in different places.
As a school, we are fortunate to have our community friends visit us frequently. A member of the North Reading Police Department stops by almost daily to say hello and visit. We love when they join us in class or at recess. Our amazing North Reading Firefighters are frequent guests as well. These dedicated individuals help us practice our safety drills, orient our kindergarten students about fire safety, and educate our third and fourth graders on what to do in an emergency. Lastly, our Town Librarian visits our school and updates us on various programs they are hosting. We always enjoy our annual introduction to the North Reading Public Libraries Summer Reading Program.
This year our grade one team comprised of Mrs. Mayuski, Mrs. Arone and Mrs. Wright decided to initiate a field trip to expand upon one of their units of instruction. In this unit, students are learning about jobs and how community helpers are important to our community. The unit also assists children in developing an understanding of being a part of a community, which leads to a feeling of belonging.
The field trip started at the library where each child was oriented to the space and the procedures associated with checking out materials. Jared, a first grade student, noted that he “loved visiting the library and seeing all of the books.” Furthermore, he indicated that “the best part was visiting the children's section all the way upstairs.”
The students also got to take a trip to the Emergency Services building and tour both the police station as well as the fire station. These students got to see a real fire truck, ambulance, and a police car. Valentina, a first grade student, stated “the field trip was fun” and that she learned that “police officers help people a lot.” Olivia also from first grade “enjoyed learning from the firefighters and taking pictures with them.”
A lengthy discussion ensued about how the firefighters slide down a pole when they get an emergency call and they need to get to the fire engines. Everyone wanted to slide down the fire pole but we simply “didn’t have time.”
Ralph from Mrs. Arone’s classroom highlighted the coloring sheets at the library as a favorite. He also shared that the firefighters taught him about calling 911 in an emergency and how happy he was to see our School Resource Officer Detective Lucci at the Police station.
Mrs. Mayuski noted that the smiles were contagious and that the students were able to recognize many of their community friends when they arrived at each destination. Furthermore, she noted that students were able to open up their very own library cards and develop an understanding of the function of the library.
It was obvious based on the feedback and the smiling faces that the Hood School Students loved learning how our local community works together to make North Reading such a great place to live. Thank you to our first-grade team, our parent chaperones, and our community friends that helped us learn about our community.
